IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v169y2021ics0040162521002717.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health management gamification: Understanding the effects of goal difficulty, achievement incentives, and social networks on performance

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Hualong
  • Li, Dan

Abstract

Motivating users to change their health management behaviors and improve their behavioral performance is a challenge for designers of health management platforms. Gamification has the potential to motivate individuals to manage their health. To better understand the role of gamification in health management, this study investigates the role of goal difficulty and achievement incentives in health management performance as well as the moderating effects of social network exposure and active interaction. We collected data from an online weight management platform in China to test our research hypotheses. The results show that a U-shaped relationship exists between goal difficulty and weight management performance. Moreover, achievement incentives have a positive effect on performance and partially moderate the effect of goal difficulty. In addition, social network exposure strengthens the U-shaped relationship between goal difficulty and performance, while active interaction in social networks positively moderates the relationship between achievement incentives and performance. These findings facilitate the understanding of the role of social networks in health management gamification and contribute to goal-setting theory by providing new insights and suggestions for users and designers of health management platforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Hualong & Li, Dan, 2021. "Health management gamification: Understanding the effects of goal difficulty, achievement incentives, and social networks on performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:169:y:2021:i:c:s0040162521002717
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120839
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162521002717
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120839?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Byeong Cheol Lee, 2019. "The Effect of Gamification on Psychological and Behavioral Outcomes: Implications for Cruise Tourism Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Kai Huotari & Juho Hamari, 2017. "A definition for gamification: anchoring gamification in the service marketing literature," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 27(1), pages 21-31, February.
    3. Lu (Lucy) Yan, 2018. "Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: The Effects of Mismatches between Social Support and Health Outcomes in an Online Weight Loss Community," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(1), pages 9-27, January.
    4. Jannis Kallinikos & Niccolò Tempini, 2014. "Patient Data as Medical Facts: Social Media Practices as a Foundation for Medical Knowledge Creation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 817-833, December.
    5. Lu Yan & Yong Tan, 2014. "Feeling Blue? Go Online: An Empirical Study of Social Support Among Patients," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 690-709, December.
    6. Xi, Nannan & Hamari, Juho, 2020. "Does gamification affect brand engagement and equity? A study in online brand communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 449-460.
    7. Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Laato, Samuli & Talukder, Shamim & Sutinen, Erkki, 2020. "Misinformation sharing and social media fatigue during COVID-19: An affordance and cognitive load perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Hatak, Isabella & Kautonen, Teemu & Fink, Matthias & Kansikas, Juha, 2016. "Innovativeness and family-firm performance: The moderating effect of family commitment," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 120-131.
    9. Davlembayeva, Dinara & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2020. "Sharing economy: Studying the social and psychological factors and the outcomes of social exchange," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    10. Tortorella, Guilherme Luz & Fogliatto, Flávio Sanson & Espôsto, Kleber Francisco & Vergara, Alejandro Mac Cawley & Vassolo, Roberto & Mendoza, Diego Tlapa & Narayanamurthy, Gopalakrishnan, 2020. "Effects of contingencies on healthcare 4.0 technologies adoption and barriers in emerging economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas, Nibu John & Baral, Rupashree & Crocco, Oliver S. & Mohanan, Swathi, 2023. "A framework for gamification in the metaverse era: How designers envision gameful experience," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Cenamor, Javier, 2022. "Use of health self-management platform features: The case of a specialist ehealth app," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    3. Zhou, Fei & Lin, Youhai & Mou, Jian & Cohen, Jason & Chen, Sihua, 2023. "Understanding the dark side of gamified interactions on short-form video platforms: Through a lens of expectations violations theory," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PB).
    4. Dzandu, Michael D. & Hanu, Charles & Amegbe, Hayford, 2022. "Gamification of mobile money payment for generating customer value in emerging economies: The social impact theory perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Behl, Abhishek & Jayawardena, Nirma & Pereira, Vijay & Islam, Nazrul & Giudice, Manlio Del & Choudrie, Jyoti, 2022. "Gamification and e-learning for young learners: A systematic literature review, bibliometric analysis, and future research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. João M. Lopes & Sofia Gomes & Ivo Rodrigues, 2024. "Playing the gamification and co-creation game: a bibliometric literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 353-376, February.
    3. Tongxin Zhou & Lu (Lucy) Yan & Yingfei Wang & Yong Tan, 2022. "Turn Your Online Weight Management from Zero to Hero: A Multidimensional, Continuous-Time Evaluation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3507-3527, May.
    4. Ghezzi, Antonio & Gastaldi, Luca & Lettieri, Emanuele & Martini, Antonella & Corso, Mariano, 2016. "A role for startups in unleashing the disruptive power of social media," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1152-1159.
    5. Bitrián, Paula & Buil, Isabel & Catalán, Sara, 2021. "Enhancing user engagement: The role of gamification in mobile apps," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 170-185.
    6. Lu (Lucy) Yan, 2020. "The Kindness of Commenters: An Empirical Study of the Effectiveness of Perceived and Received Support for Weight‐Loss Outcomes," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(6), pages 1448-1466, June.
    7. Kawaljeet Kaur Kapoor & Kuttimani Tamilmani & Nripendra P. Rana & Pushp Patil & Yogesh K. Dwivedi & Sridhar Nerur, 2018. "Advances in Social Media Research: Past, Present and Future," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 531-558, June.
    8. Xu, Hui & Wu, Yang & Hamari, Juho, 2022. "What determines the successfulness of a crowdsourcing campaign: A study on the relationships between indicators of trustworthiness, popularity, and success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 484-495.
    9. Qian, Tyreal Yizhou & Matz, Robbie & Luo, Lei & Xu, Chenglong, 2022. "Gamification for value creation and viewer engagement in gamified livestreaming services: The moderating role of gender in esports," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 482-494.
    10. Yue Jin & Yong Tan & Jinghua Huang, 2022. "Managing contributor performance in knowledge‐sharing communities: A dynamic perspective," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(11), pages 3945-3962, November.
    11. Tongxin Zhou & Yingfei Wang & Lu (Lucy) Yan & Yong Tan, 2023. "Spoiled for Choice? Personalized Recommendation for Healthcare Decisions: A Multiarmed Bandit Approach," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 1493-1512, December.
    12. Miao, Xiaoyu & Niu, Ben & Yang, Congcong & Feng, Yuanyue, 2023. "Examining the gamified effect of the blindbox design: The moderating role of price," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Liuan Wang & Lu (Lucy) Yan & Tongxin Zhou & Xitong Guo & Gregory R. Heim, 2020. "Understanding Physicians’ Online-Offline Behavior Dynamics: An Empirical Study," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 537-555, June.
    14. Xiaoyu Xu & Luyao Wang & Kai Zhao, 2020. "Exploring Determinants of Consumers’ Platform Usage in “Double Eleven” Shopping Carnival in China: Cognition and Emotion from an Integrated Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Glòria Reig-Garcia & Cristina Bosch-Farré & Rosa Suñer-Soler & Dolors Juvinyà-Canal & Núria Pla-Vila & Rosa Noell-Boix & Esther Boix-Roqueta & Susana Mantas-Jiménez, 2021. "The Impact of a Peer Social Support Network from the Perspective of Women with Fibromyalgia: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-15, December.
    16. Lackes, Richard & Siepermann, Markus & Vetter, Georg, 2020. "What drives decision makers to follow or ignore forecasting tools - A game based analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 315-322.
    17. Rainer Alt & Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, 2019. "Electronic Markets on platform competition," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(2), pages 143-149, June.
    18. Yeohyun Yoon & Kyoung Cheon Cha, 2020. "A Qualitative Review of Cruise Service Quality: Case Studies from Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-24, September.
    19. Haibing Gao & Huazhong Zhao & Yinliang (Ricky) Tan & Ya (Lisa) Lin & Lai Wei, 2020. "Social Promotion: A Creative Promotional Framework on Consumers’ Social Network Value," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(12), pages 2661-2678, December.
    20. Wei Zhao & Qianqian Ben Liu & Xitong Guo & Tianshi Wu & Subodha Kumar, 2022. "Quid pro quo in online medical consultation? Investigating the effects of small monetary gifts from patients," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1698-1718, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:169:y:2021:i:c:s0040162521002717. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.